PUTRAJAYA, Nov 9 — A Bangladesh national who was initially sentenced to death for killing his housemate, escaped the gallows after the charge preferred against him was amended to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Mohammad Jobi Ullah, 44, was sentenced to 13 years in jail by the Federal Court’s three-man panel after he pleaded guilty to a charge of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder his friend and housemate Minto.

The panel comprising Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais ordered Mohammad Jobi to serve his sentence from March 28, 2018, the date he was arrested.

In delivering the court’s decision, Justice Abang Iskandar set aside the death sentence which was imposed on Mohammad Jobi for the murder and substituted it with 13 years imprisonment.

Earlier, court-assigned counsel K. Simon Murali informed the court that the prosecution accepted his client’s representation for the murder charge to be amended to a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and this was confirmed by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari.

On June 29, 2020, the High Court sentenced Mohammad Jobi to death after finding him guilty of killing Minto, who is also his fellow countryman at a house in Jalan Megat Harun, Taman Jasa, Bukit Mertajam, Penang, at 11.15am on September 25, 2018.

According to the facts of the case, a verbal and physical altercation between the Mohammad Jobi and the deceased ensued in the kitchen of the living quarters due to the pots belonging to the deceased obstructing the kitchen cabinet.

Mohammad Jobi, a labourer, had struck the deceased’s head with a curry pot and a rice cooker in the kitchen and also punched him. The deceased, who was unconscious, was then taken to hospital. The deceased suffered internal head injuries and succumbed to his injuries and died on March 28, 2018.

In mitigating for a lower jail sentence, Murali said his client was remorseful for what he did and that he (Mohammad Jobi) had visited the deceased at the hospital to seek forgiveness.

He asked the court to impose a jail sentence of eight years saying that his client’s act was not pre-meditated but it was done in the heat of the moment.

Mohd Fairuz, however, said the proper imprisonment sentence should be between 15 years to 20 years. — Bernama